Golfer&#39;s head movement indicator



Oct. 27, 1970 R- A. EDWARDS 3,536,329

GOLFER'S HEAD MOVEMENT INDICATOR Filed Nov. 7, 1968 I 7 z'g 4 INVENTOR.

RICHARD A. EDWARDS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,536,329 GOLFERS HEADMOVEMENT INDICATOR Richard A. Edwards, San Francisco, Calif, assignor toJames C. Irvine, Fremont, Calif.

Filed Nov. 7, 1968, Ser. No. 774,104 Int. Cl. A631) 69/36 US. Cl.273-483 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A golfers head movementindicator formed of two halves and supported by a cord that hangs fromthe neck. The indicator is initially positioned under the chin and ispreferably the size and shape of a golf ball. It has novel means forgripping the cord so as to maintain it under the chin and an additionalcord length extends below the indicator. A predetermined pressure of thechin on the indicator releases the cord gripping and the indicator willnow be free to slide downwardly along the cord by gravity as soon as thegolfer lifts his chin from the device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention It is difficultfor a golfer to keep his head down at the time of hitting the golf ballwith the golf club. My device aids the golfer in keeping his head downat the time when hitting the ball rather than looking in the generaldirection where the ball is likely to travel. The device can also beused by bowlers, boxers, shot putters and football place kickers wherethe players head is to be held down during a particular part of theperformance in his chosen sport.

(2) Description of the prior art The patent to Richard Wolfe, No.1,636,086, issued July 19, 1927, on a golf stance steadying device,discloses a small cylindrical body preferably made of rubber and havingradially extending rubber projections. The device is placed under thechin and should the player turn his head, the projections will resistsuch turning movement and make him conscious of the fact that he isturning his head. The projections could be irritating to the skin andcause discomfort to the user. My device works on a different principle.A lifting of the chin off from the device will free it and gravity willimmediately cause it to slide to the lower end of the cord that issuspended from the players neck.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of my invention is to provide adevice, preferably the size of a golf ball and having means for grippinga cord that is suspended from the players neck. The cord will hold thedevice under the players chin and permit him to look down the fairwayand take several practice swings without having the device slide fromunder his chin. Then when he is ready to hit the ball, he can place hischin on the device and press downwardly to cause the cord gripping meansto loosen its grip on the cord with the result that the device will dropaway from under the chin as soon as the player lifts his head. Theplayer must keep his chin pressed against the device to prevent it fromdropping and as he swings the club, he can actually see the club headhit the golf ball.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a golfer with the devicein operative position and ready to hit the golf ball.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the device and shows the twospaced apart halves preparatory to interconnecting them together.

Patented Oct. 27, 1970 In carrying out my invention, I provide asphericalshaped member A preferably of the same size as a golf ball.This member is composed of two hemispherical halves indicated generallyat B and C, see FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. The hemispherical half B has a wall 1with an outer surface that is a portion of a sphere with a central areamade flat as at 2. The half member B also has a rim 3 whose planeparallels the flat area 2.

A central inner cylindrical post D has its base integral with the wall 1and its axis is normal to the parallel planes of the flat area 2 and therim 3'. The outer end of the post extends beyond the plane of the rimand it is provided with an inwardly extending recess 4 to form a clevis.The two sides of the clevis have aligned holes 5 and 6 for receiving acord B, see FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, for a purpose hereinafter described. Thehemispherical wall 1 has two half circular recesses 7 and '8 that extendinwardly from the rim 3 and are disposed apart. The common axis for thehalf circular openings 7 and 8 coincides with the common axis for thealigned openings 5 and 6.

It will be noted from FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 that the portion of the wall 1of the half B that lies adjacent to the rim 3 is provided with a pair ofinwardly extending annular teeth 9 and 10 that are separated from eachother by an annular groove 11. The purpose of the annular teeth 9 and 10is to form a stepped connection for holding the other half C in twodifferent positions with respect to the half B. This will be explainedafter a detailed description of the half C is given.

The half C is similar in outer appearance to the half B, see FIGS. 2, 3,and 4. The half C has a spherical wall 12 whose outer surface has acentral fiat area 13 that is similar to the flat area 2 of the half B.The half C has a rim 14 that corresponds with the rim 3 of the half B. Acircular row of resilient catches 15 have their bases integral with thehalf C and they form a cylindrical extension that projects beyond therim 14. Each resilient catch 15 has an outwardly extending tooth and aninclined outer end cam surface 17.

The half C has an inner and axially aligned central tongue F, whose baseis integral with the wall 12 and the tongue is receivable in the recess4 when the two halves B and C are brought together, see FIGS. 3 and 4.The tongue F has a cord-receiving opening 18 of the same diameter asthose of the two openings 5 and 6. Also the wall 12 of the half C hastwo diametrically opposed openings 19 and 20 with about one half of theopening lying to one side of the rim 14 and the other half of theopening extending into portions of the adjacent resilient catches 15,see FIG. 2.

In assembling the two halves B and C, the tongue F of the half C isaligned with the recess 4 of the post D and then the half C is movedtoward the half B. The inclined cam surfaces 17 on the outer ends of theresilient catches 15 will strike the inclined surface 21 of the annulartooth 10 and will flex the catches so as to swing their outer endsinwardly. As soon as the catch teeth 16 pass the innermost apex of theannular tooth 10, the catches 15 will return to their normal positionand will cause their teeth 16 tobe received in the annular groove 11that lies between the annular teeth 9 and '10.

The half C is still moved further toward the other half B and this willcause the teeth '16- on the resilient catches to be forced past the nextannular tooth 9 and to engage with the inner inclined surface of thistooth as shown in FIG. 3. This will substantially align the opening 18in the tongue F with the two openings 5 and 6 in the clevis of the postD. The tongue has two opposed fiat faces 21 and 22 and these arereceived between flat and parallel inner surfaces of the recess 4 in thepost D. The half C is rotated, if necessary, with respect to the half Bto align the flat faces 21 and 22 of the tongue with the adjacent flatinner faces of the recess 4. This will automatically bring the commonaxis for the openings 19 and in the half C into the same plane in whichlies the common axis for the half circular openings 7 and 8 that are inthe half B. Therefore when the half C is moved toward the half C tocouple the two together and the opening 18 in the tongue F is broughtinto substantial registration with the openings 5 and 6 in the post D,the openings 19 and 20 will register with the half circular openings 7and 8 in the half B, as shown in FIG. 3.

The cord E is now looped and the ends are fed through the two alignedopenings 7 and 19, and then fed through the thre aligned openings 5, 18,6, and finally fed through the other two aligned openings 8 and 20, seeFIG. 3. End pieces 23 are now secured to the two ends of the cord E andthey are large enough to prevent their slipping through any of thealigned openings.

OPERATION From the foregoing description of the various parts of thedevice, the operation thereof may be readily understood. The golfer inusing the device places the looped portion of the cord E around his neckas shown in FIG. 1. Then he moves the member A up under his chin andholds the two cord ends with the smaller fingers and palm of one hand tokeep the member there and with the index finger and thumb of the samehand grips the half B and with the other hand grips the other half C topull the two halves slightly apart until the teeth 16 on the catches 15are moved into the annular groove 11 in the half B, as shown in FIG. 4.This will move the opening 18 in the tongue P out of registration withthe openings 5 and 6 in the post D. The two cord ends will be. grippedbetween a portion of the wall of the opening 18 and the adjacent wallportions of the openings 5 and 6 and this will hold the member A underthe golfers chin even though he removes his chin therefrom while takingpractice swings with the golf club. The golfer will be able to look downthe fairway and still the member A will not drop by gravity and movedownwardly until the end pieces 23 support it.

When the golfer is ready to hit the golf ball, he places his chin on thehalf B and presses with his chin for forcing the half B toward the halfC until a click is heard, caused by the catches moving their teeth 16past the annular tooth 9 and then the teeth will snap into the annulargroove 11 and make the clicking sound. The flat areas 1 and 13 will aidthe golfer in positioning the member A so that either flat area willrest against his neck and the other fiat area will be contacted by thechin of the golfer. The clicking sound indicates to the golfer that theopening 18 in the tongue F has now been brought into substantialregistration with the openings 5 and 6 in the post D. The two cord endsare now free to slide in the aligned openings '5, 18, and 6 and themember A will drop by gravity and move from under the chin if the golferraises his head while hitting the golf ball.

The golfer can actually see the club head hit the golf ball as hefollows through with his swing because the golfer must keep his chin onthe member A to prevent it from dropping. As the golfer finishes hisswing, the twisting of his body will remove his chin from the device andit will drop to the two ends of the cord. The golfer may use the deviceat home, on a driving range or on a golf course. The low score golfermay -use the device with all short irons. The average golfer may use thedevice with all irons while the beginner may use the device with allclubs. The device will operate when used in other sports as previouslymentioned. Any difference in the device would be change in size andpossibly material.

Plastic seems the best material to use because it it light in Weight andcan be molded.

I claim:

1. A device of the type described comprising:

(a) a body adapted to be held in frictional contact between the chin andneck of a person and having openings therein;

(b) a cord adapted to be passed around the persons neck and extendingthrough the openings in said body so that normally the body would slidedownwardly by gravity on the cord when the person raises his head andchin to release the frictional hold on said body; and

(c) means for restricting the effective sizes of the openings forgripping said cord for holding said body under the chin, said meansbeing manually actuated for enlarging the effective sizes of theopenings to permit said body when freed to move downwardly by gravityalong said cord.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1; and in which (a) said meansincludes said body being formed of two portions, a first portion with apost having at least one of the cord receiving openings therein and asecond portion with a tongue having one of the openings therein;

(b) guiding and holding means interconnecting said two portions forinitially holding both portions in positions so that the opening in saidpost and the opening in sad tongue will be out of alignment with eachother for forming a restricted passage for gripping the cord, said firstand second portions being manually movable toward each other for causingthe post and tongue to move their openings into substantial alignmentwith each other for freeing the cord.

3. The combination'as set forth in claim 2; and in which (a) saidguiding and holding means includes at least a pair of teeth carried byone portion and a yielding catch. carried by the other portion, saidcatch when engaging with one of the teeth holding the two portions sothat the openings of the post and tongue will be out of alignment witheach other and will restrict the effective opening so as to grip thecord, said catch being movable to engage said other tooth when saidportions are manually moved toward each other so that the openings inthe post and tongue are brought into substantial alignment with eachother for permitting the free passage of the cord therein.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3; and in which (a) said pairof teeth are annular and extend inwardly into a hollow part provided inone of said body portions; and

(b) said yielding catch is in the form of a cylindrical part integralwith the other body portion and receivable in the hollow part of saidfirst body portion, said catch having an outwardly extending annulartooth yieldingly engageable with either annular inwardly extendingteeth.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,636,086 7/1927 Wolfe. 2,774,601 12/1956 White.

GEORGE J. MARLO, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

